Film deposition system

ABSTRACT

A cryocrucible permits the introduction of ion clusters of a cryogen, like oxygen or nitrogen, to a vacuum chamber, and preferably comprises a liquid cryogen containment vessel connected to an expansion chamber through a solenoid-actuated valve, a cooling means for maintaining the cryogen as a liquid in the containment vessel, and a nozzle connecting the expansion chamber to the vacuum chamber. Liquid evaporates through the valve into the expansion chamber and, then, forms clusters when it expands further while passing through the nozzle into the vacuum chamber.

This is a division of application Ser. No. 183,132, filed Apr. 19, 1988, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,902,572.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

I. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for controllably depositing a thin film of material on a substrate and to the thin film products. More particularly, the present invention relates to a cryocrucible for introducing ion clusters of cryogens, such as oxygen or nitrogen, to a vacuum chamber.

II. Background Information

Systems are known for depositing thin films of material on a substrate. One such system comprises a housing in which a high vacuum region may be formed; a crucible containing the material to be deposited; a heater for vaporizing that material in the crucible; a nozzle for ejecting the vaporized material from the crucible through the nozzle into the high vacuum region to form non-ionized atomic clusters of the material by resultant adiabatic expansion which are held together by van der Waals forces and which drift outward from the nozzle on an approximate line of sight basis; an electrode system for converting a percentage of the non-ionized clusters into ionized clusters; and an accelerator for accelerating the ionized clusters toward the target upon which the thin film is to be deposited.

Such a system, as is for example disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,217,855 issued to Takagi, provides for control of deposition rate primarily through control of vapor pressure within the crucible. In addition, the ion acceleration voltage is critical in obtaining the maximum deposition rate. Crucible temperature, the shape of the ejection nozzle, the deposition material employed, and the substrate material employed are also important in determining deposition rate.

Prior art systems of the Takagi type recognize the possibility of reversing the polarity on the accelerator to impede the progress of the ionized clusters without affecting the progress of the non-ionized clusters in their movement toward the target. At least one system, that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,082,636 issued to Takagi, contemplates an acceleration voltage which causes the ionized clusters to actually be repelled and thereby prohibits deposition of the ionized clusters on the target, at least during a portion of the operating time of the system.

One prior art system disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,197,814 issued to Takegi et al. contemplates the deposition of two or more materials on a target. This system discloses the employment of two crucibles each having a separate heating mechanism for vaporizing a different material in each crucible. The nozzles on these two crucibles are disclosed as being directed toward a common target, thereby permitting both ionized and non-ionized atomic clusters from each crucible to be simultaneously deposited on that target. With such a system, the temperatures of the crucibles may be independently regulated so as to regulate the pressures of the vapors contained in those crucibles to thereby independently control the deposition rates of the two materials. Any such change in the crucible temperature takes a considerable amount of time in comparison to the total deposition time typically required and thereby renders instantaneous control of the deposition rates effectively impossible.

It is also known that systems of the type referred to above are capable of depositing an oxide of a material in a crucible, through the introduction of oxygen gas into the high vacuum region adjacent the target. However, it is difficult to control the rate and degree of oxidation using this methodology.

In operating these prior art systems a layer of the film of a particular composition is deposited, the deposition process is stopped, the crucible temperature or pressure within the high vacuum region is altered, and thereafter the deposition process begun again to deposit a new composition. As a consequence, rather than being smoothly varying, a material having a series of discrete, discontinuous step changes in composition is obtained.

Optical filters or antireflection coatings typically include these discrete stacked layers of dielectric material, each layer having different optical properties. New applications for these filters indicate the need to develop systems having the capacity to deposit thin film layers which have substantially smoothly or continuously varying material properties as a function of film thickness, rather than a series of discrete step-wise changes. The prior art systems are incapable of providing smoothly varying material properties because the vaporization rate (and consequently the deposition rate) responds to changes in crucible temperature too slowly.

The present invention provides a system which permits a thin layer to be deposited which has smoothly or continuously varying material properties as a function of thickness of that layer, such as a film that has a continuously graded index of refraction caused by the continuously changing composition of the layer.

Additional advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from that description or may be learned by practice of the invention.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with the purposes of the invention as embodied and broadly described herein, a film deposition system for depositing a film of material onto a target is provided which comprises: a housing within which the target or substrate is located and within which a high vacuum region (low pressure region) may be formed; at least one crucible containing material to be deposited on the target; an evaporator for vaporizing the material in the crucible; a nozzle for ejecting vaporized material from the crucible therethrough into the high vacuum region to form non-ionized atomic clusters by resultant adiabatic expansion, the clusters traveling in a first direction through the high vacuum region, non-coincident with said target; a stripper or an ionizer for ionizing a percentage of the non-ionized clusters into ionized clusters; an accelerator for accelerating the ionized clusters; and a deflector for deflecting the ionized clusters in a second direction coincident with the target to result in a flow of non-ionized clusters along the first direction which are not deposited on the target and a flow of ionized clusters along the second direction which are deposited as a film on the target.

Preferably, the evaporator of one crucible is divided into two chambers, one of which includes a cooling element so that the crucible is a "cryocrucible." Such a crucible usually contains oxygen or nitrogen as the material to be deposited, the choice being dependent on whether oxide or nitride films are being formed. This cryocrucible generally includes a first chamber opening to the high vacuum region through the nozzle, a second chamber for housing the deposition material as a liquid, and a solenoid-actuated valve connecting the chambers. Vapor may be selectively loaded from the second chamber into the first chamber for emission through the nozzle.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of a film deposition system of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an illustration of an electron stripper or electron impact ionization stage used in the system illustrated in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a schematic illustration of an alternative embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 4 is a schematic illustration of a cryocrucible for use in the system of FIG. 3.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Reference will now be made in detail to the presently preferred embodiment of the invention as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

Before discussing the cryocrucible, a film deposition system that uses the cryocrucible will be described so that the preferred environment of the invention will be understood.

FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of a deposition system comprising a housing 10, a target holder 12, a target or substrate 14 upon which a film 16 is to be deposited, crucibles 18 and 20, a heating element 22, a cooling element 24, materials 26 and 28, nozzles 30 and 32, electron impact ionization stages 34 and 36 comprising cathodes 38 and 40, shield grids 42 and 44, screen grids 46 and 48, and anodes 50 and 52, accelerators 54 and 56 comprising accelerator plates 58, 60, 62 and 64, and deflectors 66 and 68 comprising deflector plates 70, 72, 74 and 76. Nozzles 30 and 32 preferably can be of the Joule-Thomson type.

Housing 10 provides a vessel within which target holder 12 and target 14 are located and within which a high vacuum region 78 may be formed. As should be well understood by those skilled in the art, a high vacuum region 78 typically has a pressure less than 10⁻⁴ Torr. In addition to target holder 12 and target 14, the remaining elements of the system of FIG. 1 are all illustrated as being enclosed within housing 10. As should be apparent to those skilled in the art, placing every element within housing 10 is nonessential. For example, at least a portion of vessels 18 and 20 and/or at least a portion of heating element 22 and cooling element 24 may, of course, be located outside of housing 10. What is important, however, is that clusters of atoms produced from nozzles 30 and 32 have access to a clear path within high vacuum region 78 from nozzles 30 and 32 to target 14.

Target 14 may comprise any form of material on which film 16 is to be deposited. Target 14 may, for example, comprise a silicon wafer substrate, glass, a metal foil, or a thin film semiconductor, as will be known to those skilled in the art.

Crucibles 18 and 20 of FIG. 1 provide vessels for holding respective materials 26 and 28 which are to be deposited on target 14 to form at least a portion of film 16. Sufficient differential pressure between the vaporized material within crucible 18 and the pressure of high vacuum region 78 (a differential typically of two to four orders of magnitude) is obtained to permit adiabatic expansion of vaporized material 26 from crucible 18 through nozzle 30 into high vacuum region 78 in a manner which forms non-ionized atomic clusters of material 18, preferably on the order of 500 to 1,000 atoms per cluster. As is presently understood, the resultant non-ionized atomic clusters are held together by the attraction of van der Waals forces.

Although crucible 20 may be operated with a heating element in the same manner as crucible 18 and its heating element 22, in accordance with an alternative embodiment of the present invention, crucible 20 may include a cooling element 24 in a manner which will be described in more detail below. In either event material 28 within crucible 20 is likewise expanded through corresponding nozzle 32 of crucible 20 into high vacuum region 78 to form non-ionized atomic clusters by resultant adiabatic expansion. The cooling element 24 retains a volatile material, such as oxygen or nitrogen, in the liquid state and influx of heat from the environment is satisfactory to produce the necessary evaporation.

The non-ionized atomic clusters of materials 26 and 28 exiting nozzles 30 and 32 travel in respective first and second directions 80 and 82 on an approximate line of sight basis, within a distribution which extends transverse to directions 80 and 82 in a manner depending upon the particular shape of nozzles 30 and 32. For example, with a nozzle having an aspect ratio of one, the distributions along directions 80 and 82 may be approximated by cosine functions 84 and 86, respectively. As the aspect ratio is increased, more directionality and a narrower distribution is achieved; the size of the effective target areas 88 and 90 is reduced. Accordingly, the term first and second direction as used herein refers to the approximate line of sight direction of the non-ionized atomic particles issuing from the nozzle of a crucible and formed as a result of adiabatic expansion and encompasses the distribution that actually results.

In the prior art systems, first direction 80 and second direction 82 are directed to intersect target 14. However, in accordance with the teachings of the present invention, first direction 80 and second direction 82 are aligned to be non-coincident with target 14. Accordingly, clusters emitted from vessels 18 and 20, unless deflected, travel along directions 80 and 82, respectively, without being deposited on target 14 as a portion of film 16. A system having at least one crucible directed at the target and at least one crucible of the type described above is also possible.

Electron strippers 34 and 36 operate by electron impact to ionize or convert a selected portion of the non-ionized clusters emitted from the nozzles into ionized clusters. As may be seen in more detail in FIG. 2, electron stripper 34 comprises a wire filament cathode 38, a shield grid 42, a screen grid 46 and a plate anode 50. Wire filament cathode 38 is connected at one end to ground and at the other end to a cathode voltage V_(c). Plate anode 50 is coupled to a plate or anode voltage V_(p) which is positive with respect to cathode voltage V_(c). Screen grid 46 is interposed between wire filaments cathode 38 and plate anode 50 and is coupled to receive a screen grid voltage V_(sg) which may be selectively variable. Screen grid 46 is positioned to permit passage of non-ionized clusters 100 emitted from nozzle 30 between screen grid 46 and anode 50. Shield grid 42 is interposed between cathode 38 and screen grid 46 and shield grid 42 is coupled to ground.

In operation, cathode 38, which preferably comprises a tungsten wire filament, is heated through application of cathode voltage V_(c) to emit an electron beam 102 in the direction of anode 50 which preferably comprises a tungsten foil or plate. Shield grid 42 operates to shape electron beam 102 as should be well known to those skilled in the art. Screen grid 46 operates to control the degree and magnitude of electrons accelerated toward plate 50 in response to the value of screen grid voltage V_(sg). Thus, as non-ionized clusters 100 pass through electron beam 102, a percentage of non-ionized clusters 100 are stripped of electrons by operation of beam 102 and are thereby converted to ionized clusters 104. Since ionized clusters 104 pass through the relatively field-free region between screen grid 46 and anode 50, ionized clusters 104 continue to travel in a line of sight basis along first direction 80.

By varying the screen voltage V_(sg), the intensity of the electron beam 102 is varied and, hence, the percentage of non-ionized clusters 100 converted to ionized clusters 104 may be accurately and quickly controlled. The percentage portion of the beam ionized is substantially linearly related to the screen voltage. Control of the ionization can therefore be effected by the type of voltage waveform selected and applied to the grid. A sinusoid, triangular, sawtooth or other voltage signal can be applied to the grid, and in each case will control the percentage ionization of the beam in accordance with the particular signal applied.

Furthermore the sensitivity of the linear control is much improved over the prior art. Variations in screen voltage V_(sg) may occur on the order of each 10⁻³ to 10⁻⁶ seconds which, for practical purposes in comparison to typical deposition time of minutes or hours, is effectively instantaneous. At a typical deposition rate of 10 Å/sec, 10⁻³ sec corresponds to 0.1 Å thickness, which is much less than a monolayer. Thus, much better control is achieved than with standard methods where changes occur over several seconds only giving control over about a 30 Å layer at best. An effectively continuous control of the percentage of non-ionized clusters 100 converted to ionized clusters 104 may be obtained through operation of screen grid 46. As a result a superior product can be made having physical characteristics more accurately controlled. An optical filter having a continuously variable index of refraction can be made by the method of this invention.

A ring 92 is illustrated in FIG. 2 interposed between nozzle 30 and electron stripper 34. Ring 92 is shown electrically coupled to ground and operates as an electrical shield between nozzle 30 and vessel 18 on the one hand and electron stripper 34 on the other hand.

Electron stripper 36 associated with crucible 20 of FIG. 1 operates and may be constructed in precisely the same manner as electron stripper 34 described above in connection with FIG. 2, to convert a percentage of non-ionized clusters 106 of material 28 to ionized clusters 108 of material 28 which, upon exit from electron stripper 36, are traveling on a substantially line of sight basis along second direction 82.

In accordance with the teachings of the present invention, a mechanism is provided for deflecting ionized clusters from a first direction non-coincident with a target to another direction coincident with that target to split the cluster beam and to establish a flow of non-ionized clusters along the first direction and a flow of ionized clusters along the coincident path.

As shown in FIG. 1, deflection plates 70 and 72 of deflector 66 are aligned on either side of the beam of non-ionized clusters 100 and ionized clusters 104. Plates 70 and 72 are energized with a deflection voltage V_(D) of sufficient magnitude to deflect ionized clusters 104 from continuing travel along first direction 80 to a third direction 110 coincident with target 16 to thereby permit deposition of ionized clusters 104 on target 16. Since non-ionized clusters 100 are not affected by deflector 66, non-ionized clusters 100 continue to travel along first direction 80 and are not deposited on target 16.

Deflector 68 with deflector plates 74 and 76 operate using a deflection voltage V_(D') in a similar manner as deflector 66 and deflector plates 70 and 72 to deflect ionized clusters 108 traveling along second direction 82 to a fourth direction 112 which is also coincident with target 16. Thus, ionized clusters 108 are deposited on film 16 while non-ionized clusters 106, whose direction of travel is not affected by deflector 68, continue along second direction 82 and are not deposited on target 16.

Ionized clusters 104, upon travel along third direction 110, continue to have a distribution 84' and a target area 88' which may be substantially identical in form to the distribution 84 and target area 88 for non-ionized clusters 100. The distribution and area, however, may be altered by focusing the beam. Target area 88' is preferably selected to cover target 14 and thereby deposit film 16 over the entire surface of target 14. In the alternative, target 88' might be selected to be smaller than target 14 to deposit material 26 only on selected locations of target 14. The deflection voltage V_(D) may also be modulated to deposit material 26 on target 14 at selected times.

Similarly, ionized clusters 108 from electron stripper 36 travel along fourth direction 112 after deflection by deflector 68 with a distribution 86' and a target area 90'. Like target area 88', target area 90' may be controlled to deposit material 28 in selected locations at selected times.

The temperature for deposition varies with the choice of materials and can be as high as about 1400° C. for silver. Typical temperatures are less than 1000° C. The temperature must be high enough to allow vaporized material to exist at the reduced pressure of the high vacuum region 78, which is typically less than 10⁻⁴ Torr.

Most semiconductor materials can be deposited using the system of this invention. In particular, II-VI and III-V semiconductor materials such as ZnSe, GaAs (and Al_(x) Ga_(1-x) As), and CdTe can be deposited. Using the cryocrucible, which is discussed in more detail below, such compounds as SiO, silicon nitride (Si₃ N₄), SiO/silicon nitride, and ZnO can be deposited.

Accelerators 54 and 56 provide a mechanism for accelerating ionized clusters 104 and 108, respectively along directions 110 and 112, as is shown in FIG. 1. Accelerators 54 and 56 may comprise oppositely charged plates 58, 60 and 62, 64 having a voltage potential applied across them typically in the range of 0-10 KV. Accelerators 54 and 56 preferably are located interposed between target 14 and deflectors 66-68 as illustrated in FIG. 1 to permit non-accelerated ionized clusters 104 and 108 to be deflected by deflectors 66 and 68. As shown in FIG. 3, accelerators 54 and 56 might be located between deflectors 66, 68 and electron strippers 34 and 36. With this arrangement, however, deflectors 66 and 68 must deflect accelerated ionized clusters 104 and 108. As a consequence, the deflection voltages V_(D) and V_(D') for the FIG. 3 arrangement must necessarily be greater than the deflection voltages V_(D) and V_(D') for the FIG. 1 arrangement, since ionized clusters having greater kinetic energy pass through the deflector faster than ionized clusters having less kinetic energy.

It should also be understood that plates 58 and 62 in FIG. 1 may, in the alternative, be located behind target 14, may actually comprise a portion of target holder 12, or may actually comprise a portion of target 14 itself.

With either the FIG. 1 or FIG. 3 arrangement, since only ionized clusters 104 and 108 are deposited on target 14 to form film 16, and since the percentage of non-ionized clusters 100 and 106 converted to ionized clusters 104 and 108 by electron strippers 34 and 36, respectively, is each independently controllable by respective screen control voltages V_(sc) and V_(sc'), the rate of deposition of material 26 and material 28 on target 14 may be independently and essentially instantaneously controlled. In effect, with other factors being constant, the deposition rate of material 26 on target 16 will be substantially a linear function of stripping voltage V_(sg) and the deposition rate of material 28 on target 16 will be substantially a linear function of stripping voltage V_(sc'). Since voltages V_(sc) and V_(sc') can be nearly instantaneously altered (altered in 10⁻³ to 10⁻⁶ seconds), the rate of deposition of materials 26 and 28 may be effectively instantaneously altered, thereby permitting an application of materials 26 and 28 either alone or in combination on target 14 which varies instantaneously as a function of the thickness of film 16. Smoothly varying the stripper voltage can produce films having smoothly varying compositions as a function of film thickness. By continuously varying the voltage, a film can be prepared to have a continuously varying composition, and, for antireflection coatings made from SiO or ZnO, might have a continously graded index of refraction because of the gradient in composition.

Of course, the deflector power and accelerator can be varied to control the deposition rate alone or in combination with the other elements. Control of these electrical elements provides greater sensitivity than simply controlling the crucible temperature as done conventionally in the prior art. In accordance with the present invention, either or both crucibles 18 and 20 may be operated in conjunction with a cooling element. Specifically, as illustrated in FIG. 1, crucible 20 may include a cooling element 24 which maintains the crucible at a sufficiently low temperature to result in a vapor pressure in the crucible of about 1-10 Torr. Typically a cryocrucible operates at a temperature of about 50° K. and will emit material into a chamber 120 (FIG. 4) resulting in a pressure of about 1-10 Torr in chamber 120. Material 28 may be liquid oxygen. The cooling element 24 operates to cool the oxygen until its vapor pressure in chamber 120 is proper to permit cluster formation upon exit from nozzle 32. The cryocrucible deposition system has innumerable applications, including the capacity to make dielectric stack optical filters with a continuously variable index of refraction.

As best shown in FIG. 4, the cryocrucible comprises a first chamber 120, a second chamber 124, a solenoid actuated valve 126 comprising a valve stem 128 and a solenoid coil 130, an input port 132, an output vent 134, and a thermocouple 136. Material 28, preferably in the form of liquid oxygen or nitrogen, is introduced into second chamber 124 through input port 132. Cooling element 24, which preferably comprises a cold finger from a cryo-refrigerator, operates to cool material 28 to a desired temperature as measured by thermocouple 136 to lower the vapor pressure of material 28. The vaporized portion of material 28 is introduced to chamber 120 through the solenoid actuated valve 126 at a temperature and pressure which will produce clusters 106 of material 28 upon expansion through the nozzle into the housing. Vent 134 is provided to allow chamber 124 to be initially filled and is subsequently closed when the cryocrucible temperature is the correct temperature. When chamber 124 is initially filled from a liquid oxygen tank, film boiling will occur until the chamber wets and cools to about the temperature of the liquid oxygen. During the filling step, gaseous O₂ is vented out vent 134.

Although the cryocrucible concept referred to above has been disclosed in the environment of applying a film 16 to target 14, this concept has other applications as well. One of the most salient of these alternate applications is simulation of an atomic oxygen environment found in low earth orbit. Such simulation requires a directed beam of neutral oxygen atoms of approximately 5-6 eV kinetic energy.

The cryocrucible provided by crucible 20 and its related elements can deliver oxygen atoms ejected in non-ionized clusters 106 having about 500 to 1,000atoms per cluster at thermal energy, namely, at low velocity. Electron stripper 36 ionizes one or a small number of atoms of selected clusters 106. The accelerating voltage applied to accelerator 56 may be adjusted to accelerate the partially ionized clusters to yield the appropriate kinetic energy. Thus, a source of low energy oxygen atoms loosely bound by van der waals forces can be prepared. The clusters have less than one percent ionization.

Additional advantages and modifications will readily occur to those skilled in the art. The invention in its broader aspects is, therefore, not limited to the specific detailed representative apparatus and illustrative examples shown and described. Accordingly, departure may be made from such details without departing from the spirit or scope of applicants' generic inventive concept. The claims should be interpreted broadly, and should be limited only as is necessary in view of the pertinent prior art. 

We claim
 1. A cryocrucible for forming clusters of a cryogenic fluid, such as liquid oxygen, into a high vacuum region comprising:(a) a first chamber having a cryogenic fluid inlet and a cryogenic fluid outlet; (b) means for cooling the first chamber to a predetermined temperature and for maintaining the first chamber at the temperature; (c) a second chamber having a nozzle in fluid communication with the high vacuum region; and (d) a valve connecting the first chamber with the second chamber for conveying cryogenic gas vaporized in the first chamber from the first chamber to the second chamber.
 2. The cryocrucible of claim 1 wherein the cooling means includes a cryogenic cooling element and a thermocouple associated with the first chamber for measuring the temperature within the first chamber.
 3. The cryocrucible of claim 2 wherein the valve includes a solenoid actuator and wherein the nozzle permits adiabatic expansion of the cryogenic gas from the second chamber into the high vacuum region thereby allowing formation of clusters of the cryogenic fluid in the high vacuum region.
 4. The cryocrucible of claim 1 wherein the cooling means cools the fluid to a temperature of about 50° K.
 5. The cryocrucible of claim 1 wherein the second chamber operates at a pressure of about 1-10 Torr.
 6. The cryocrucible of claim 1 wherein the nozzle is a Joule-Thomson nozzle.
 7. The cryocrucible of claim 1 wherein the first chamber and second chamber share a common wall, the valve extending through the common wall.
 8. The cryocrucible of claim 7 wherein the valve is solenoid-actuated.
 9. A cryocrucible comprising means for maintaining a cryogen as a liquid, valve means connecting the maintaining means to an evaporation chamber for selectively introducing cryogen from the maintaining means to the evaporation chamber, and a nozzle connecting the evaporation chamber to a vacuum chamber.
 10. The cryocrucible of claim 9 wherein the maintaining means includes a reservoir and cooling means.
 11. The cryocrucible of claim 10 further comprising a thermocouple adapted for measuring the temperature of liquid within the reservoir.
 12. The cryocrucible of claim 11 further comprising a liquid inlet attached to the reservoir and a vent attached to the reservoir.
 13. The cryocrucible of claim 11 wherein the reservoir and evaporation chamber share a common wall.
 14. The cryocrucible of claim 9 wherein the maintaining means operates at a temperature of about 50° K.
 15. The cryocrucible of claim 9 wherein the evaporation chamber operates at a pressure of about 1-10 Torr.
 16. A method for introducing a cryogen to a vacuum chamber comprising the steps of:(a) maintaining the cryogen as a liquid in a reservoir; (b) evaporating the cryogen into an evaporation chamber at a pressure of about 1-10 Torr; (c) expanding the evaporated cryogen through a nozzle into the vacuum chamber to form clusters of the cryogen.
 17. The method of claim 6 wherein the cryogen is oxygen or nitrogen. 